HWE Hitodama

HWE Hitodama

Alias: Souls

Essential Concepts:

A Hitodama is a “Soul” given physical or ethereal form by exposure to the Toho Plane. As such Hitodama are exclusive to areas that within the Outer Planes sphere of influence. So: Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines and East Russia/Kamatcha all have the possibility for a Hitodama to form.

Origins of Hitodama: Originally Hitodama were souls belonging to a long dead ancient civilization of which Shangri La discovered and began using as an energy source as devouring souls resulted in a major boon to their enigma output. They also discovered that Hitodama could be used to theoretically alter the Outer Plane to create their own paradise. They found out too late however that Hitodama were actually human souls and as such the entire population of Shangri La was assimilated into a ritual designed to give control of the Outer Planes energy to the Magi. This ritual resulted in a mass vortex of power fusing millions of souls in with Outer Plane’s energy, thus forever anchoring the Toho Plane to Eastern Asia and forever tying the ToHo planes development to the sub consciousness and belief of the living humans in the region.

There are two types of Hitodama:

Yokai Souls: Yokai Souls are those Dama created by the Toho Planes energy. These souls eventually become Yokai by either embedding themselves within a host, or by forming by some other method. Humans can become hosts for Yokai Souls when the Soul enters the body and fuses with their own soul and energy, thus creating a Human Yokai such as a Rokorokubi, Futakuchi-Onna, etc. Yokai Souls, being born from the Energy of the Toho Plane, thus have a need to devour humanity as humanity is tied directly to their very origin as the energy of the ToHo plane is rife with spiritual energy of long dead humans. Given that Yokai are (albeit distantly) born from everything that is human, them consuming human flesh can be a way of helping a Yokai fill in something “missing”.

Human Souls: Also known as Miitama, The soul and energy of a human with years of exposure in the Toho Plane’s sphere of influence. When a human dies, this Hitodama often gets trapped in the Inner Planes without proper rites to help it dissipate and pass on to the afterlife. These Hitodama eventually become undead or Ghosts. Human Souls are a required need to devour by most Yokai as devouring human flesh allows them to devour the energy (and thus “soul”) of the human capable of making the Yokai more powerful, extending their lifespan on the material plane, making them feel “whole” amongst other things. The longer a Mitama stays exposed to the influence of the Touhou Plane it builds up a concept called 'kegare' which must be purified else the Mitama will eventually draw a Hitodama or Yokai towards it.

Other Concepts:

Hitodama can be dispelled or destroyed easily with pure Enigma or if removed from the influence of the Toho Plane.

Hitodama in the rawest state can infuse with one other with outside stimulation. Doing this enough times results in a “Lord Soul” an excessively powerful soul which has infused and assimilated thousands of other souls. Lord Soul however cannot be destroyed, only fragmented. Anything with a Lord Soul cannot be “killed” conventionally. Their Soul must be removed, however since the Soul cannot be properly destroyed, the body simply falls into a state of suspended animation. The only thing that can defeat a Lord Soul bearing monster permanently is another Lord Soul bearing monster by which one assimilates the other.  All Lord Souls are those that emerged in the Fall of Shangri La. There is only Five Left: Soul of Orochi, Soul of the Dragon, Soul of the Serpent, Soul of the Rooster, and Soul of the Tiger. The Soul of Orochi is however, divided amongst the Four Holy Beasts to prevent the creature from being reborn. The Other Bearers of the other Souls are:

Kaitheros/Genbu: Soul of the Serpent

Byakko: Soul of the Tiger

Seiryuu: Soul of the Dragon

Suzaku: Soul of the Rooster.

Each of the Four also possesses one fragment of the Soul of Orochi.

No more have been created since.

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“Hitodama? Oh you mean the human souls that all Yokai are born from?”

“Exactly that. However, it gets a bit more complicated than that.”

“How so?”

“For that we need to discuss the origins of Yokai themselves and the Fall of Shangri La. When the Mage Clans of Shangri La found the ToHo plane it was unlike the Plane we know it today, it was barren and lifeless. As the Magus Clans began to experiment with Planar travel and how to alter the Outer Plane to suit their own needs, the inevitably discovered Hitodama floating about aimlessly throughout the Outer Plane… the rest as you know, is history.”

“Yeah, the Mages started using the Hitodama as some sort of miracle power and began combining a lot of them to make powerful “Lord Dama” which inevitably resulted in a catastrophe where Shangri La’s entire population simply faded into non-existence or turned into Yokai?”

“Loosely speaking. However, it should be noted that the Hitodama back then was different from the Hitodama of today.”

“How so?”

“The Hitodama back in the day were strictly human souls, from who, I cannot hazard a guess as it was obvious that the Hitodama belonged to a civilization that predates Shangri la, but that’s all I can really know. The Hitodama of today are different in the fact that Shangri La’s ritual was a success, just not in the way they expected or anticipated.”

“So Shangri La being wiped out was a success?!” Ruki balked

“More of a “Gone Horribly Right” Success, but a Success none the same. The Magus Clans desired to forge the Toho Plane into their own utopia, forged by them. Well, they certainly forged a “utopia” alright. The vortex of death, fire, and souls created a sort of universal existence albeit temporarily where their collective subsconscious forged the Toho plane into what it is today.”

“Sort of like Instrumentality? In that millions of souls lose their bodies and become a global group consciousness?”

“That is the first time I’ve heard that word used in such a way, but yes. However, it was temporary. As once the Toho plane was forged, every single soul therein lost all semblance of self as it merged directly with the Toho Plane’s energy output. From there, new Hitodama were born.”

“The Toho Plane creates Hitodama?”

“These new Hitodama are no longer true human souls, but they are the precursor of all Yokai. These Hitodama are born from the energy of millions of dead souls who have become nothing but Energy, so in a way a Hitodama is born directly from humanity.”

“So the Mages they all became energy, and the new Hitodama are born from that energy?”

“Loosely speaking yes. Now, these Hitodama create Yokai and are more often than not invisible drifting the Inner Planes until a suitable host becomes known to it. Be it a greedy miser, a truly evil person, or so on.”

“So how are Ayakashi born then?”

“That I have no idea. I assume, Hitodama which drift out to sea and get entrapped in the depths of the ocean often forge new existences that way, but otherwise I have no idea. Now there are two types of Hitodama. Hitodama that originate in the Toho Plane, and Hitodama that are human souls. The latter is a strongly sought after commodity by Yokai, which can be acquired by devouring the remains of a human being.”

“I guess Yokai eating humans make sort of sense then…they are trying to fill in something they are missing in their own soul…”

“In that sense you are correct. Devouring human flesh can empower a Yokai, satiate their hunger, or even expand their lifespans. The Hitodama is an immensely powerful source of energy, an energy of which that could eclipse raw enigma as it is used today.”

“But the cost would be too great, I’m guessing?”

“Correct. The moral implications and cost would be far too great to even justify using human souls or Hitodama. The Magus Clans of Shangri La found this out far too late.”

“So human Hitodama are the things that create ghosts, right?”

“Correct. A Human soul which gets entrapped in the Inner Planes and not assisted to move on by proper rites can inevitably be born into any manner of ghost Yokai, with Onryo being one of the rarest, thankfully.” Kaitheros sighed.

“So, Hitodama come in two varieties, Yokai Souls and Human Souls?”

“In a very rough sense yes. There are differences of course, Human Souls can become Yokai Souls with enough exposure to a concept called Kegare can cause a Yokai Soul to be drawn towards and inevitably fuses itself with the Human Soul.”

“So Hitodama can fuse and merge with each other?”

“Not on their own, but yes, Hitodama can fuse with each other when given the right external stimiuli as Kitsunetsuki shows. A Human Soul is weaker than a Yokai Soul as in a prolonged struggle the Yokai Soul often prevails or fuses with the Human Soul, thus creating a new Yokai Soul inside the human being. Hence why I believe Rokorokubi and such are incurable, as you cannot cure or purify a soul once it is reach such a state.”

“I see… so wait, back in there day the Mages created…Lord Souls I think? Where do they fit in?”

“Ah, yes. The Lord Souls. The Lord Souls are the fusions of hundreds of thousands of souls granted into a single vessel. However, those I shall cover on a different day.”

“Wait, why?”

“Because they tie into the history of this particular area of the World and the Toho Plane itself. We shall discuss those soon, however. But for now, since the Hitodama is such a broad subject with a lot of intricacies I don’t think we can address in this conversation, I am going to have you study those on your own, afterall, I think you need a bit of a rest given… the circumstances.” Kaitheros finished referring to Ruki’s…issues.

“*sigh* I guess your right your old lizard…” Ruki got up and brushed herself off. She was gone with a bunch of old scrolls in toe within the next minutes. Kaitheros sighed.

“They never change, do they?”

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